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As a 22-year-old who will soon hold my Bachelor's Degree in Accounting in my hands and have accepted a great job opportunity in the Washington, DC metro area, I must say that it all depends on the expectations of the individual. I will be earning a starting salary of $41,210. Many of my peers who have received job offers in the private sector with starting salaries of around $10,000 more would scoff at that (and yes, they have) because, after all, "how can you survive on that in a big city?" However, I was grateful to have received this offer and am already doing everything I can to prepare myself for the position so that my future employer knows that their decision was a sound one. Why, may you ask? I'm being paid $41,210 for a 40-hour work week. Anything I work over that is guaranteed time-and-a-half overtime. My peers might be laughing all the way to the bank with their $53,000 starting salaries, but when they start working 60-70 hours per week a few months per year WITHOUT receiving any additional compensation for their troubles, then the fact that I earn $10,000 less to have a HEALTHY work/life balance doesn't seem so "laughable" anymore, does it?
When I advance from the GS-7 pay scale to the GS-8 pay scale in just over one year's time I will likely be earning nearer to $50,000. In the next year when I jump to GS-9 I will most likely be at or very near to what my private-sector peers are earning, but once again I'll have the advantages of flex time (being able to work four 10-hour days with three-day weekends) AND 128 of the 168 hours per week where I'm NOT in the office. They'll be making roughly the same salary I'll be making in three years except for the fact that their position demands a huge deal more in terms of expectations than my own.
It's amazing how materialistic so many in Generation Y are today though, and I say that as a member of that demographic. I hang out with people who are already licking their lips at the prospect of purchasing a BMW as soon as they can. Why? Our generation has become one that craves instant gratification. Instead of the old adage of saving long and working hard to get what you want through sweat equity now far too many want things NOW, NOW, NOW!!!
LOL I'm an accounting major who just coming off my public career. They hire thousands of recent grads every year, so much so that you and your peers are considered a class. At most firms, you can become a senior level associate in 2 years, and a manager in 5-6. So if you are the typical college graduate at 21/22, you can potentially be in a managerial position by age 27/28. Not a bad way to invest time, and I can say that it's time well spent (the 60-70 hour work weeks), because you learn a whole lot, see a whole lot, and are put into situations and postions a lot quicker, so that when you do move on, (and they will move on, since the chance of making partner is very slim) you have experience to command a more senior position once you hit a company where you have more of a balance of work/life, making more money.
It sounds like you are kind of bitter towards your public accounting counterparts.
I am not sure that young employees are in demand. I know a bunch of graduates from excellent schools (who paid a lot for their education) that are unemployed and cannot find jobs.
A lot of it is attitude.
College is great, I didn't go myself because it wasn't required in the 60's like it would be today but someone that has a college degree that works for or beside me would do well to keep one important thing in mind.
The degree shows you are one step ahead of the pack, it proves you can get with a program and stick with it. Getting your degree is also an indicator that someday you will master your craft but the biggest mistake you could make now is to think you've already mastered something by virtue of having a degree. Hate to tell you this but you are not worth as much as you think you are. Someday you will be but not right now, you've got a lot to learn yet.
I don't have a degree, something I have always lamented, I still might go back and get it someday, but I can honestly guarantee to you I have forgotten more over the last 40 years than you learned in the four years you spent at college.
In the end it is all about performance. It is all and only about getting the job done in a timely, efficient manner generating a profit for whoever it is you are working for.
Hmmm, I'm not so sure that it works that way. AFAIK, young ppl have their negatives...
-Some of them may be entitled
-they don't know the rules
-they spend all day texting
... stereotypes for sure, but it seems to balance out the old tymers too. At least for IT jobs, I've worked with my fair share of older folk.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thenewyawkah
Actually, hiring workers 45 and over throws the company into an assigned risk pool. I believe that much of this age discrimination is due to the unmanageably high cost of ensuring older people. Good luck proving it though...
First time seeing this used the other way. I think you mean "insuring".
Well to be fair, the Gen Y/Millenials (my generation) are pretty self-absorbed/narcissistic/selfish and suffer greatly from an entitlement complex. I can see where the OP might have a complaint, even if I find it a tad ludicrous.
Personally, I'd like to see this awful economy knock my generation down a peg or two. I don't want to be around if we never learn to get over ourselves.
Hmmm, I'm not so sure that it works that way. AFAIK, young ppl have their negatives...
-Some of them may be entitled
-they don't know the rules
-they spend all day texting
... stereotypes for sure, but it seems to balance out the old tymers too. At least for IT jobs, I've worked with my fair share of older folk.
First time seeing this used the other way. I think you mean "insuring".
How ridiculous... While you may have a poor opinion of young people from what you see on TV and on the street it isn't necessarily that way in the professional world.
Since you refer to the IT field here is one big difference between old and young people. Young people were born with this technology. I got my first computer (a 286) when I was 5 years old and wasn't even a teenager when the internet started blowing up. Old people simply cannot learn at the same rate as children can and my generation has the benefit of being raised on this technology.
I got my first programming job 4 days out of high school at 17. I cannot tell you the amount of old people I have worked with that were incredibly lazy. In fact it has been one of the biggest motivators for me. Whatever skills they had because of experience I made up for with motivation. I want their job and I will do it for LESS money.
From a less stereotypical standpoint think of it this way. You can take a young person and give them a pittance for pay. Then after a short period of training they are doing the work of an older person for significantly less pay and the profit the company makes will increase until that employee figures out that they have enough experience to earn more pay somewhere else.
It depends on the position. Workers are more and more looked at as liability from hiring to retirement especially by actuary in risk for anything from borrowing .Companies have to have that liability covered .That is why you see rehiring a retired employee not needing insurance with dependents or other benefits is cheaper even with higher salary cost per hour worked. Going forward the cost to insure being 13K average in 2012 by government stats is even going to more of a factor in hiring a worker. Future liability cost have gone way up in hiring a new employee.
I think it works on both sides. There are younger people who can find work easily but there are also older people who can find work just as easily. I think the 30's may be the sweet-spot.
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